Colorado voter turnout lags behind 2022 midterm, but experts say it’s still strong

As of Thursday afternoon, Colorados voter turnout was about 61%, 5 points shy of the 2022 Midterm Election.

That's active voters, so not all eligible voters. It tends to dip down quite a bit, so it's enthusiastic. It's good for a midterm. It's not record-breaking. But that said, I think really the story is underlying the overall aggregate number and really looking at kind of the party numbers, the age differences, and who turned out, which is really the big part of the story in this election, Dr. Robert Preuhs, professor and chair of political science at Metropolitan State University of Denver said.

Preuhs said unaffiliated voters were some of the most active voters this election.

Unaffiliateds make up majority of voters here in Colorado, and they turned out at fairly high rates relative to what unaffiliated voters usually do. Theyre still underrepresented relative to their overall voter population, Preuhs said. Who also turned out were Democrats. They were about in line where they were four years ago.

Preuhs said Republican voters on the other hand, did not turnout.

As much as towards the end Donald Trump wanted to say go and pretend I'm on the ballot and get excited about that, the reality was that he wasn't on the ballot, and a lot of Trump supporters really just don't show up if Trump's not on the ballot, Preuhs said.

Preuhs said pretending Trump was on the ballot may have backfired and motivated Colorado Democrats.

I think the other side of it is that it may have backfired a little bit. It reminded the opposition, Democrats, and those that were a little leaning towards Democrats that were concerned about the Trump administration, reminding them why they might actually want to go out and turn out and vote, Preuhs said.

Preuhs said young voters also saw an increase in turnout with many voting for democratic candidates.

For years, Colorado has ranked as one of the states with the highest voter turnout.